Caroline Rowland: My Life In Media

So what inspired you to embark on a career in the media?

My first media role model was Kate Adie. I used to rehearse my BBC payoff in my bedroom as a teenager, imitating her expression, intonation and gesture - persistently getting it all wrong. I always felt the incredible power of film in telling intensely moving and important stories.

When you were 15, which newspaper did your family get and did you read it?

Spending my formative years in South Africa in the 1980s meant that access to great journalism was fairly limited. I remember my parents getting The Daily Telegraph a week after publication. I read it, but everything in it seemed so alien to my experience of life at that time. I don't recall ever being captivated by it.

What were your favourite TV and radio programmes?

Is it too embarrassing to confess to Dallas being my favourite TV show?

Describe your job

Wow, that's not as easy as it sounds! I am essentially responsible for managing the strategic and creative processes involved in producing film and television - sometimes from the moment of conception of an original idea, but then conversely, in response to the very specific and pre-defined needs of a client.

What media do you turn to first thing in the morning?

I wake up every morning to the Today programme on Radio 4. James Naughtie and John Humphrys are fabulously polite and provocative - at the same time.

Do you consult any media sources during the working day?

All the time. My desk is always littered with DVDs, trade magazines and my inbox filled with links to insights, information and comment on film, television, advertising - and virtually everything else.

What is the best thing about your job?

The constant variety and excitement that make it seem nothing like a job at all!

And the worst?

The odd occasion when it does feel a bit like a job.

How do you feel you influence the media?

The media is a huge catch-all phrase in this context - I'm really not sure I personally have any influence over the media at all. However, New Moon is leading the way in redefining how production companies work to create content that is appropriate for delivery across the platforms now available.

What's the proudest achievement of your working life?

Standing in Trafalgar Square for the 2012 Olympic Games announcement, bursting with pride that we had made the film that had been part of the sensational London presentation to the IOC. It was incredible to have seen Steven Spielberg and Luc Besson's films for New York and Paris in those presentations and having this creeping feeling that our film had a greater impact and expressed everything that makes the Olympic movement so important.

And what's your most embarrassing moment?

Walking into the clubhouse at a corporate golf day the following morning with the most monumental hangover and being utterly incapable of completing the full 18 holes.

At home, what do you tune in to?

More4, E4, BBC2 , my i-Pod.

What is your Sunday paper? And do you have a favourite magazine?

I rarely read a Sunday paper and then I choose one based on the headline. I am a compulsive reader of The Week, Screen, Variety and Management Today.

Name the one career ambition you want to realise before you retire

It would be nice to win an Oscar! More seriously - it's important to me to reach a position where the three different areas of the business are truly integrated. I'd like to be able to witness a democratic fusion of sponsors and the independent thought of journalism in the production of television and film that provokes thought and engages the hearts and minds.

If you didn't work in the media, what would you do?

I'd breed racehorses and hope that in my dotage I may be able to do that anyway.

Who in the media do you most admire and why?

Lord Puttnam. David has been there, done it and in spite of his extraordinary achievements has retained humility, humour and a great passion for inspiring others through the magic of film.

The CV

1982-83 Competes in international swimming galas, while growing up in South Africa.

1989 After attending Rhodes University, South Africa, she joins the DMB& B advertising agency in Johannesburg. Moves to London and works part-time at the Ayer Barker agency, also working as a fitness instructor.

1992 Moves to top advertising agency J Walter Thompson (JWT) as an account director, with clients ranging from Unilever and De Beers to The Daily Telegraph.

1996 Leaves advertising to set up New Moon television production company in her spare room.

2004 With director Daryl Goodrich she sets up feature film company Moongate films, which now has five sport-based films in development.

2005 Is producer of New Moon's Sport at Heart and Inspiration, the films credited with helping London to win the bid for the 2012 Olympics.